{"title":"Growth and competitions of the Australian red-claw crayfish, Cherax quadricarinatus (von Martens, 1868) in Thailand: the experimental approaches","authors":"T. Jutagate, Wachira Kwangkhwang, S. Saowakoon","doi":"10.3391/ai.2023.18.1.103301","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"The Australian red-claw crayfish (RCC) Cherax quadricarinatus (von Martens 1868) (Crustacea: Decapoda: Parastacidae) has been introduced and promoted for freshwater aquaculture in many countries including Thailand. This study i) evaluates the growth performance of RCC in near-natural conditions relative to captive conditions and ii) investigates how successfully RCC can compete with a trophically and functionally analogous native species. Growth of RCC was compared among two aquaculture systems (concrete tank and earthen pond) and a treatment with simulated natural conditions. After 12 months of rearing, total length and weight were greatest in the earthen pond and poorest in the near-natural treatment, with significant differences in total length between the near-natural treatment and the two culture systems. Length-weight relationships showed that the RCC had positive allometry in the culture systems but negative allometry in the near-natural treatment. Competition was evaluated by means of a biotic resistance test and an additive–substitutive experiment between RCC and the native freshwater crab Esanthelphusa dugasti (Rathbun, 1902) (Crustacea: Decapoda: Gecarcinucidae). Specific growth rates after 90 days of the experiments suggest that the crab inhibited growth of RCC. This implies that the invasion of RCC in Thai waters could be limited by competition from resident freshwater crabs.","PeriodicalId":8119,"journal":{"name":"Aquatic Invasions","volume":"27 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2000,"publicationDate":"2023-04-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Aquatic Invasions","FirstCategoryId":"93","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3391/ai.2023.18.1.103301","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ECOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The Australian red-claw crayfish (RCC) Cherax quadricarinatus (von Martens 1868) (Crustacea: Decapoda: Parastacidae) has been introduced and promoted for freshwater aquaculture in many countries including Thailand. This study i) evaluates the growth performance of RCC in near-natural conditions relative to captive conditions and ii) investigates how successfully RCC can compete with a trophically and functionally analogous native species. Growth of RCC was compared among two aquaculture systems (concrete tank and earthen pond) and a treatment with simulated natural conditions. After 12 months of rearing, total length and weight were greatest in the earthen pond and poorest in the near-natural treatment, with significant differences in total length between the near-natural treatment and the two culture systems. Length-weight relationships showed that the RCC had positive allometry in the culture systems but negative allometry in the near-natural treatment. Competition was evaluated by means of a biotic resistance test and an additive–substitutive experiment between RCC and the native freshwater crab Esanthelphusa dugasti (Rathbun, 1902) (Crustacea: Decapoda: Gecarcinucidae). Specific growth rates after 90 days of the experiments suggest that the crab inhibited growth of RCC. This implies that the invasion of RCC in Thai waters could be limited by competition from resident freshwater crabs.
期刊介绍:
Aquatic Invasions is an open access, peer-reviewed international journal focusing on academic research of biological invasions in both inland and coastal water ecosystems from around the world.
It was established in 2006 as initiative of the International Society of Limnology (SIL) Working Group on Aquatic Invasive Species (WGAIS) with start-up funding from the European Commission Sixth Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development Integrated Project ALARM.
Aquatic Invasions is an official journal of International Association for Open Knowledge on Invasive Alien Species (INVASIVESNET).
Aquatic Invasions provides a forum for professionals involved in research of aquatic non-native species, including a focus on the following:
• Patterns of non-native species dispersal, including range extensions with global change
• Trends in new introductions and establishment of non-native species
• Population dynamics of non-native species
• Ecological and evolutionary impacts of non-native species
• Behaviour of invasive and associated native species in invaded areas
• Prediction of new invasions
• Advances in non-native species identification and taxonomy